Internet use and networking in workplace and home environments

¶ … Telecom and the Internet

Use of Internet in my workplace and home

The advent of the use of the Internet has broadened the horizons of work at my company. The Internet has been operational at our company for many years now and has made a lot of the tiresome tasks easier and less time-consuming like the overall automation setup has reduced the functionality expenses and with the passage of time my company has invested less and less in the real estate and catalog departments (Gindin, 1999).

Another advantage that my company has utilized is the sea of information available on the Internet. Numerous times, I have been involved in meetings where the company executives and employees have put their heads together to make adjustments on the company's policies in response to whatever authentic information they gathered from the online sites. This sea of information has also been used by my employers to serve the employees better as well as retain more customers by better understanding how customer satisfaction can be achieved in the competitive market. My company also has its own website on the World Wide Web so that it can achieve accessibility as well as create market opportunities on a much vast spectrum with more versatile portfolio of merchandise (Gindin, 1999).

Of course all the employees and the employers have access to the Internet for personal purposes as well like checking the mails, using the IM, interacting on online discussion boards, playing games online, trading online, etc. In addition, our company monitors our online activities and has restricted access to certain inappropriate sites but has done so by informing us before hand and with the aim to retain a professional and growing working environment (Gindin, 1999).

The work is not the only place I have access to the Internet. I use it at home as well to copy recipes or borrow exercise manuals and/or read up on certain events that I am unable to watch live like grand slam finals or my favorite TV shows. My children also have access to the Internet at home and usually use it to make their assignments by adding dynamic information available on the Internet and not in their text books as well as talking to their friends form school or family members living in different regions (Gindin, 1999).

Use of networking at my workplace and my home

The basic purpose of networking is to expand the social circles in order to find and discover useful opportunities to enhance one's life and work. The basic questions that I ask myself before allowing somebody to become a part of my network are: how can this person benefit me? And how can I benefit that person? My networking process at the workplace is similar to networking process of others in the workplace. Our inference is that the larger the network of friends and acquaintances, the more opportunities will come my way. My networking at home revolves around making new acquaintances and preserving old ones. This is usually done by meeting people on the Internet. Internet has transformed the way networking is carried out and I intend to use this tool to further strengthen my network (the Financial Times Limited, 2007).

Purpose and function of the company and personal website

The basic purpose of the company website is to offer clients an alternative medium to understand company products and values. The website is used to make special announcements; educate people about the company's present and future endeavors; create a medium where our clients and employees can talk about strengths and weaknesses of our company. Similarly, the website is also used to deliver timely and accurate news about the company.

My basic purpose of my personal website is to allow people to view my technical and vocational skills. Key questions that I asked before building a website is that who will access it? Who will benefit from it? And who am I targeting? My inference is that not only my network of friends but also employers who are in need of good professionals will access my website.

Website Critique

The basic purpose of the company's website is to achieve customer accessibility as well as create market opportunities on a much vast spectrum with more versatile portfolio of merchandise. The key questions that were asked before designing a website pertained to the concepts of navigation, usability, design, search engine marketing, content and technology.

With regards to the navigation, my critique is that it shows consistency and search engine congruency. Furthermore, the website possesses architectural logic, along with help pages and site map. In addition, other mandatory links are also present; such as, privacy, contact us, services, our partners etc.

With regards to the usability, my critique is that the website shows all the necessary things a customer looks for. These things include lucidity of services, decision support, special promotions and services, product images and illustration of the quality of the product. In addition, the website also shows cross selling and up selling tools. Client testimonials are also available along with support of the sales staff. Lastly, the company also displays vital guarantees and warranties.

With regards to the design of the website, my critique is that the website design relates to the look and feel of the company's brand. The design is consistent throughout the website and it is filled with unique features and appropriate use of flash and multimedia.

With regards to the search engine marketing, my critique is that the company's it engineers have done a wonderful job in searching and gathering the most pertinent keywords. The titles of the pages are also very logically named. The external links are consistently building up and the Meta tag description field also heading in the right direction.

With regards to the website content, I think that they need to add ease of skimming by getting rid of lengthy paragraphs. In addition, the format and layout of the content needs to be uniform throughout the website. While the homepage caters to the basic questions of "who, what, when, where and how," it needs to use user-friendly typography.

With regards to technology, the website is compatible with latest browsers; the monitor resolution is set at 1024 at 768 pixels. Cascading style sheets have been used to enhance to outlook of the website. Similarly, graphics have been compressed to decrease download time of web-pages.

My personal website is also build around the same principles mentioned above. This is because I had taken the assistance of the company' it manager (she is a part of my social network), to build my website.

The shortcomings of the website and plans for further improvement

The company's Website content of is not added frequently which is not good for search engine ranking. The content is not easy to find and is not open for consortium. The target audience is not being properly managed and the present circle of clients is not being dominated. Furthermore, press releases, keyword pertinent articles should be added daily to the website as a strategy to increase the frequency to new content. In the same way, my personal website too needs all of these improvements and the company's it manager is working towards meeting these ends.